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Thursday, 25 May 2017

...these days (all days, if truth be told). I've just finished a journal that's been in the works for quite some while and thought I'd share it with you. Called 'Good Fortune,' the tie-it-together item is that there is a fortune cookie fortune on each page. Some are real, and some are invented...can you tell the difference?

Coins from years of travels (mine and others') are secured to the front of the journal. And guess what - this thing is heavy!

What better use for mop-up paper towels than a garden, I wonder? None, I tell myself.

Fortune: It's springtime - let's party!

You gotta know the upside-down bird is my favourite.

Fortune: Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings.

My eye goes around and around on this page...it's definitely playtime when one uses layer upon layer of palette transfers, stamps, tissue and more.

Fortune: The most direct approach isn't always the best.

The stencil I used for the pig-tailed pretty is one I created from a photo of my lovely niece Shaina.

Fortune: Impose not a burden on others which you cannot bear yourself.

There will always be a mandala or two in any journal I do - I can't seem to resist!

Fortune: Do not let great ambitions overshadow small success.

Red, yellow and orange just make me so happy.

Fortune: Share your happiness with others today.

There are flowers everywhere - it must be coming up to summer, or maybe it's another obsession.

Fortune: Contemplate the flowers - more fun than weeding!

Textile fragments show up on this page - another gift from Alice.

Fortune: Some of the sweetest berries grow amidst the thorns.

Paper napkins, fabric fragments from Alison Bjorkman, and hole-punched prints all add to the colour here.

Fortune: Remember the birthday but never the age.

For some reason, husband John objected to this fortune. :D

Fortune: The real questions is not whether machines think but whether men do.

First version of this page,

Fortune: Are you listening?

followed by the opened cards.

An inside peek at the above page.

This page is much darker than I would usually do, and the cityscape was really fun - it's many years since I've lived in one.

Fortune: Sleep, rest, recover; then dream again.

And here are more flowers...definitely part of my good fortune!

Fortune: Flowers don't work for a living - they merely dance.

Again!

Fortune: Live like a wildflower, growing with the wind.

Here's another departure from my normally bright palette...inspired by Mucha, no doubt!

Fortune: No matter your game, play like it matters.

I'm not so much hankering for a tropical vacation right now, but this page will spell delight come mid-winter!

Fortune: A tropical vacation is coming your way.

My usual style, according to the fortune!

Fortune: Running around in circles?

I suspect this was a reminder I needed!

Fortune: Step outside - there are whole universes to explore.

Here we've reached the end. This back cover was meant to be covered in bills that I've saved from various vacations to different countries. Of course, I couldn't find them when they were needed. They will no doubt turn up sometime in the near future, grinning cheekily while they give me the finger!

Back cover 'Good Fortune' 2017

Perhaps you'd share your favourite fortune cookie fortunes with me in the comments below - there are at least four more journals in progress in the studio, and I could always do another of these!

In the meantime, maybe you'd like to play hide and seek with some of the ephemera in this journal. Can you spot the two tags included, silver dollar (watch out - it's a trick!), book page, a pen, thread, stamp, lichen, library pocket, CD, dryer sheets, credit card fragment, string, wallpaper, massage ad, lost earring and globe?

Thursday, 18 May 2017

...happened in the studio this week. In fact, it has been quite the contrary. Teeny, tiny, mini has been the fun, as I created a small book from fragments of mono-printed paper, salvaged stamps, a whack of double-sided tape and a scrap of ribbon.

Disclaimer: As always, I've no idea what I'm doing, so any information and/or technique you gain here is totally concocted from my addled brain. This, of course, means that it has nothing to do with the proper way of creating a book, or any kind of reality whatsoever. In addition, you should know that no mono-prints, stamps or ribbon were harmed in the process (well, apart from the one I put upside down and had to tear out).

The book style is accordion, and all scraps were 3" x 5", folded in half. Since the prints had been created as demos in mono-print classes, there was no telling what might show up, front or back.

I used double-sided tape to affix half of one scrap to half of the other, creating a looooooooooooooong accordion line.

When assembled it's not even as long as a tube of paint. The cover, a tri-fold so that the last page could be affixed to the centre back, is a painted dryer sheet spray glued to bond paper - more scraps. Delicious, no?

Thursday, 11 May 2017

...and some great results are the two labels I'd put on last weekend's Gelli playshop.

These ladies really know how to party with paint! Being such a colour nerd I was beyond impressed that Becca managed to not only colour-coordinate her shirt and scarf with the tablecloth, but then did a print to match!

Mel and Britney look totally engrossed as they wield their weapons.

Linda and Carol are equally intent, and you can tell by the array of prints surrounding them that they have been very busy!

I wonder what Gay is contemplating here - throwing paint at Becca, perhaps?

Britney is justifiably proud of this beauty!

Prints on paper, prints on fabric, prints on aprons and prints on hands! It truly was kids' day at Fly in the Fibre!

The prints were amazing - so much lusciousness! I'm going to zip it until the end so you can enjoy the variety, texture and pattern.

Whenever I do a class, my texture templates change colour, and I just had to show you this mouth-watering drywall compound template after Saturday's playshop - gorgeous, no? It's absolutely frameable!

Thanks again to all you adventurous women - you made my day! Thanks, too, to Fly in the Fibre for such an awesome space! We're quite likely to be reconnecting there in the fall, so keep your eyes open for playshop dates.